WebDriverAgentLib target still references deprecated "iOS Development" signing identity, breaks CODE_SIGN_IDENTITY override on Xcode 26 / iOS 26

[ZvnQiy]

Summary

When building WDA against an iOS 26.4.2 real device on Xcode 26, even when
xcodebuild is invoked with a correct command-line override
CODE_SIGN_IDENTITY=Apple Development, xcodebuild errors out with:

error: No signing certificate "iOS Development" found: No "iOS Development" signing certificate matching team ID "<TEAM_ID>" with a private key was found. (in target 'WebDriverAgentLib' from project 'WebDriverAgent')

The WebDriverAgentLib target in WebDriverAgent.xcodeproj still references
the long-deprecated "iOS Development" identity name at the target level
(not as "$(CODE_SIGN_IDENTITY)" or "Apple Development"). Apple renamed
this signing identity to "Apple Development" years ago and the keychain
on a fresh Mac with a current Apple Developer enrollment only has the
"Apple Development" form. Command-line CODE_SIGN_IDENTITY=Apple Development
correctly overrides the project's other targets, but WebDriverAgentLib's
target-level setting takes precedence and fails the build.

Related: appium/appium-remote-debugger#497 (separate
upstream gap, iOS 26 inspector protocol).

---

Environment

Component	Version
appium-webdriveragent (from xcuitest@11.7.1's nested deps)	13.x
Xcode	26 (SDK iphoneos26.5)
macOS host	Apple Silicon, current 2026-05 release
Device	iPhone14,7
Device iOS	26.4.2 (build 23E261)
xcodebuild driver	appium-xcuitest-driver 11.7.1

Keychain identity confirmed:

$ security find-identity -v -p codesigning
1) <hash> "Apple Development: <user>@example.com (<TEAM_ID>)"

No "iOS Development" identity exists, and Apple has not issued new "iOS
Development" certificates for years.

---

Steps to Reproduce

1. Fresh Mac with Xcode 26 and a valid current "Apple Development" signing
   identity in the keychain.
2. Run xcodebuild against appium-webdriveragent/WebDriverAgent.xcodeproj
   on an iOS 26.4.2 real device, supplying CODE_SIGN_IDENTITY=Apple Development
   on the command line (this is what appium-xcuitest-driver 11.7.1 does
   when given appium:xcodeSigningId: 'Apple Development'):

xcodebuild build-for-testing test-without-building \
  -project .../appium-webdriveragent/WebDriverAgent.xcodeproj \
  -scheme WebDriverAgentRunner \
  -derivedDataPath ... \
  -destination id=<UDID> \
  IPHONEOS_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=26.0 \
  DEVELOPMENT_TEAM=<TEAM_ID> \
  "CODE_SIGN_IDENTITY=Apple Development" \
  -allowProvisioningUpdates

(-allowProvisioningUpdates is added here in case the
xcuitest-side gap on this flag is separately fixed; the underlying
WebDriverAgentLib-target issue still surfaces independent of that.)

---

Expected Behavior

The command-line CODE_SIGN_IDENTITY=Apple Development override applies to
all targets (Lib + Runner). Build proceeds without the "iOS Development"
identity error.

---

Actual Behavior

WebDriverAgentLib target's project-level signing identity setting is
iOS Development, which the command-line override does not propagate to.
xcodebuild then looks for an "iOS Development" certificate that does not
exist and fails:

[Xcode] /.../WebDriverAgent.xcodeproj: error: No signing certificate
        "iOS Development" found: No "iOS Development" signing certificate
        matching team ID "<TEAM_ID>" with a private key was found.
        (in target 'WebDriverAgentLib' from project 'WebDriverAgent')
[Xcode] ** TEST BUILD FAILED **
[Xcode] xcodebuild exited with code '65'

This error is independent of the WebDriverAgentRunner target's signing setup,
which xcuitest's xcodeOrgId + xcodeSigningId capabilities (correctly)
override.

---

Proposed Fix

Update WebDriverAgent.xcodeproj/project.pbxproj so that the
WebDriverAgentLib target's signing identity uses the variable form so
it inherits from the command-line override:

CODE_SIGN_IDENTITY = "$(CODE_SIGN_IDENTITY)";

(or simply update it to "Apple Development" if the variable form turns out
problematic; both are forward-compatible with Apple's current and future
identity naming).

This single change unblocks all command-line-driven WDA builds on machines
that only have the modern "Apple Development" identity (which is now every
new Mac with an Apple Developer enrollment).

---

Workaround in the Meantime

Open WebDriverAgent.xcodeproj in Xcode (e.g. via
appium driver run xcuitest open-wda), select the WebDriverAgentLib
target → Signing & Capabilities → manually set signing identity to "Apple
Development" or enable Automatic signing. Commit / preserve the change
locally so subsequent npm install / driver-update flows don't overwrite
it.

Note: this workaround is fragile — any reinstall of appium-xcuitest-driver
overwrites the local change because the nested appium-webdriveragent is
shipped as a transitive dep with the original xcodeproj.

---

Related

• Companion appium/appium-xcuitest-driver issue: xcodebuild for WDA on Xcode 26 fails: -allowProvisioningUpdates not passed by default, auto-provisioning gate refuses to generate WebDriverAgentRunner profile
  (filed separately). Together these two fix the WDA real-device build path
  on Xcode 26 / iOS 26.
• Upstream protocol-layer issue:
  Inspector.enable / Runtime.enable silently dropped by iOS 26.4.2 over com.apple.webinspector.shim.remote — Target.targetCreated never emitted, selectPage hangs appium-remote-debugger#497

[KazuCocoa]

Could you share the full appium server log? Also, actual xcode version as well?

We don't have iOS Development/Apple Development preset values:

kazu $ git grep 'iOS Development'
kazu $ git grep 'Apple Development'
kazu $

Also, like below command - which is built with xcodeOrgId, xcodeSigningId, updatedWDABundleId and allowProvisioningDeviceRegistration caps worked on my local. I'd like to confirm the behavior.

xcodebuild build-for-testing test-without-building -allowProvisioningUpdates -allowProvisioningDeviceRegistration -project /path/to/WebDriverAgent.xcodeproj -scheme WebDriverAgentRunner -derivedDataPath /path/to/drivedDataPath -destination id=<id> IPHONEOS_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=26.0 DEVELOPMENT_TEAM=<team> CODE_SIGN_IDENTITY="iPhone Developer" PRODUCT_BUNDLE_IDENTIFIER=com.kazucocoa.wda GCC_TREAT_WARNINGS_AS_ERRORS=0 COMPILER_INDEX_STORE_ENABLE=NO

It worked with Xcode 26.3 and 26.5 with free account.